Word: mau
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...Blundell's own farm, the Mau Mau oath administrators arrived one night at the huts, tortured several of his Kikuyu into taking the oath. The victims were beaten almost to death, and half-strangled. Only one, a sobbing teen-ager dared confide in Blundell what had happened. And the chief oath administrator was a well-dressed, well-educated young Kikuyu whom the Blundells had fully trusted...
Most farms in the danger zone never even had locks on the doors before the Mau Mau terror began. Often built of cedar logs or even clapboard, added to when the farmer wanted more space they are difficult places to fortify. Some farmers have put wire-screening over their windows and long verandas, hoping that at least they'll get some warning if attacked. They all, of course, keep watchdogs, and carry guns...
...also been shot dead "while trying to wrest a Sten gun from a guard"-although the settlers all swear the Kikuyu are a cowardly, not a desperately suicidal, people. Stray Kikuyu picked up by the commandos in the forests (called jungilis), who may or may not be working with Mau Mau gangs, are asked for information. They are seldom prepared to talk...
...hard-working men who, if they despised the Kukes as "only 50 years out of the trees," did not ill-treat their labor. Now circumstances are making them as tough and ruthless as South Africans. They are men who have a lot to lose-including their lives. The Mau Mau hit first, now they are hitting back, without drawing fine distinctions between Kikuyu who are or are not Mau Mau...
Since the war against the Mau Mau is run from Nairobi, and Nairobi is by & large run by the sons of old Colonel Blimp, the ex-Indian army colonels, the not-so-young younger sons of aristocratic families with hyphenated names, it is not surprising that the embattled farmers explode with numerous complaints about Nairobi's incompetence and muddle-mindedness. Kenya, though by population a small country, has a baffling superstructure of government departments. "There is no liaison whatsoever," an upcountry district commissioner complained. "God knows what happens to my reports when they reach Nairobi; they never bear...